Maybe with your employer, but I can asure everyone reading here that is not a US centric thing by any stretch of the imagination. It's a struggle to get decent maternity leave for most, so new pets is not on the agenda with employers in the US.Here in the US you can and do get leave when you rescue/adopt a new pet. Maybe in the U.K. or other places they do not and that’s a shame. And I do have two human children and they are my world but so are my fur babies, they are our family too. I guess if you don’t love/adore your pets as many/most do you wouldn’t understand